With all the lightning bolts coming out of FUNimation and ADV lately, not to mention Geneon and GDH/Gonzo, other anime distributors kind of sit unnoticed behind the explosions. But rest assured, Bandai Entertainment has been busy and is setting off its own fireworks, even if a bit more quietly than everyone else.

For example, on the 4th of July (see? fireworks!), the company announced that it had acquired the North American rights to the 52-episode series, Hayate the Combat Butler. This show focuses on a young man attempting to escape his family's gambling debt, and becoming the butler of a wealthy girl he rescues from kidnappers.

Jeffrey Harris, covering Anime Expo 2008 for 411mania.com, reported a bit more Bandai news from their Industry Panel at the convention. The company officially announced the upcoming release of Gundam 00, though we've actually known it was coming for a little while now. They also discussed a new title, Rocket Girl, about three girls becoming astronauts. There will also be a theatrical run for Sword of the Stranger, and then it will be released on DVD.

More good news, according to Harris's report, involves the complete re-dubbing and the re-release of Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, in both DVD and Blu-Ray, complete with entirely new covers. This will in fact be Bandai's first Blu-Ray release.

Meanwhile, the combining of the assets of Bandai Visual USA and Bandai Entertainment began on July 1. Bandai Entertainment has inherited the label called "Honneamise" (pronounced "Oh-Nay-A-Miss"), which carried most of the titles that had been released by BV USA. These include some series that had been announced earlier this year and then postponed, for example, Shigofumi, sola, and true tears. The Anime News Network has a listing of most of the current titles, but Bandai plans several more announcements in the near future.

On some of the discussion forums following the beginning of the rollover, fans didn't seem too impressed that the former BV USA titles would continue for the most part to be sold at the same high prices as before. Many believe that part of the reason BV USA didn't do very well was, in fact, the prices they charged, which were much higher than what was charged by their competitors for similar products. But others suspect that Bandai Entertainment's hands may be tied as they have to live up to ongoing Bandai Visual legal commitments. The hope is that as the company finally disposes of stock on hand at the required prices, they may eventually be able to re-release many of these titles at a lower and (in the fans' opinion) more reasonable price.

Another development stemming from the combination of assets involves Bandai Entertainment's AnimeVillage.com site and the former Bandai Visual USA site, dot-anime.us. According to a BE blogger, Richard, "We will be using the dot-anime.us frontend interface and look/feel, while Bandai Entertainment will fulfill all orders from their warehouse. The switchover will be happening soon and should be transparent to the user, in the meantime please continue to use the websites as they are still both functioning. AnimeVillage.com will automatically switch to dot-anime.us once the transition period is over."

Checking the dot-anime.us site, everything appears to be operating as before, except that some of the previous blogs (e.g. the Boss) have disappeared. The related Dotanime shop on Amazon.com is still there, so for the time being, that stays the same as well.

So while Bandai Entertainment doesn't appear, on the surface, to be making as flashy news as some other distributors, they are in fact very active, doing everything from acquiring new titles to combining two companies and their websites. There seems to be a lot to look forward to, when all that business is done and things finally settle down.